Why Feeling Good Can Damage Your Health
Monitoring pleasure and pain are not the way to control your health.
I used to think I could tell how my body was doing by how I felt. If something hurt, it was probably my body’s way of telling me that something was wrong. If I felt better, than I was helping my body. Of course, I was not including drug use in my considerations.
I used to tell patients that there are two different kinds of pain. One kind is sharp, and you don’t want to do that again. The other kind is annoying. A loose tooth was an example that I used. It hurt but you wanted to keep fiddling with it. I’d tell patients to pay attention and not do the sharp ones and continue the other ones.
Then I learned that movement could lessen pain. A young colleague told me that when a sore joint moved, the brain sent down signals to lessen the pain. I asked for the evolutionary advantage, and he said that if you had a sore foot and were being chased by a bear, it would be good not to feel the pain so you could run. I liked that reply.
In addition, I’ve learned that exercise increases the release of endorphins, which help block pain. Endocannabinoids, serotonin, and dopamine are also released and improve our moods. So, exercise makes us feel better. That’s good right? What about my friend who runs to make his knee feel better and has destroyed the joint as a result? When I just think about the pounding that my joints receive while running, I don’t think it is a good idea. I could be making myself feel better and destroying my knees.
However, if we couple movement with knowledge, movement for chronic pain conditions would be great. Best to do things that are easier on the joints than running.
What about the effect of anger? When you are angry, you go into fight or flight. Adrenaline, noradrenaline and cortisol are released. Your muscles become tight. Blood flow is redirected to muscles from the gut. The brain changes to heighten your awareness but simultaneously impairs judgment. The heightened awareness can make you think you are more alive and invigorated. Those changes may be helpful in an emergency situation, like running from a bear. What about chronic anger?
Chronic anger takes the biggest toll on your cardiovascular system. It leads to plaque formation, and high blood pressure. High cortisol suppresses the immune system, increases inflammation, and increases risk of illness. In addition, anger may reduce cognitive function, exacerbate anxiety and increase insomnia.
Why does it feel good to get angry? It feels good to do something about it. Dopamine, also known as the reward hormone, is released when you accomplish something. It causes you to want to repeat behaviors. Someone wrote about this in a post. The argument was that you read a post that makes you angry. The anger heightens your awareness while impairing your judgement. You share it and get a dopamine hit, making you feel rewarded. You then repeat that behavior. The same thing could happen by shouting or hitting someone.
Is social media driving you nuts? Are you angry? Do you share posts to make others angry too? Is your blood pressure going up? Are you having insomnia?
More important - are you feeling good about sharing the things that make you angry?
One more way feeling good can be bad for your health. What makes it even worse, when you share it, it is contagious. You can be helping others feel good while destroying their health.
What can be done? Stop social media or do what I do, search for truth. Instead of instantly hitting share, engage your brain. Ask yourself could this be false? Could the other side have a point? Notice this is the opposite of what would normally happen if you were angry. Instead of allowing anger to impair your judgement, you begin using judgement to displace your anger.
That is what I am trying to do with these posts. Get everyone thinking. Thinking is a healthy response. It helps you get beyond the programming that everyone is using to control you.
Think!!